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How tragic! I was apprehensive when making reservations but was very impressed with their flight. Lao Air was so meticulous that the snack boxes had stick on labels correcting "Your's safe with Lao Air" to "You are safe with Lao Air." ( Yes, we peeled off the labels to see what atrocity was being hidden.)

We were on a 50 passenger Lao Airlines turboprop airplane from Luang Prabang to Hanoi. After take off, there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke in the cabin. The passengers were looking at each other quizzically. A couple of us mentioned it to the flight attendant. She looked in the rest room and up and down the aisle. Turns out that the pilots were smoking.

The plane that crashed was an ATR, a prop plane, and all on board died. Operations are being conducted by Thai volunteers at this very moment to recovery the bodies from a very swollen and fast flowing Mekong river.

Well, Offwego, that is a good way to look at it. Pilots sitting back, smoking and relaxed : )

Vientianboy, our Lao pilots WERE smoking. Maybe your flights never had smoking pilots, but ours pilots were indeed smoking, The flight attendant confirmed it. It didn't affect our landing, it was actually a nice flight. But your "doubting" the veracity of my post does not change the fact that the pilots were smoking on our flight. I'm not known in the forums for making things up. But thanks anyway for posting your opinion that you have "NEVER smelled the pilots smoking". Capital letters always help with credence.